The present invention concerns a simulation device. More particularly it relates to a device which is attached to an electronic pressure gauge used by underwater divers to test such gauges outside the underwater environment.
Disclosed in European Offenlegungsschrift 73 499 and Canada Pat. No. 11 86 053, respectively, is an electronic pressure gauge device which is capable of calculating and displaying various parameters of a diving maneuver. This gauge has a memory; a timer or clock; a pressure sensor; processing means; and a display. The memory is used to store decompression parameters associated with a series of diving depths and diving times. Used for both air and water pressure, and capable of being switched over to both ranges, is a single, preferentially a piezoresistive pressure sensor. The processing means receive input values from the pressure sensor and the clock. It then compares these values with the parameters stored in the memory. The gauge is capable of displaying at any point in time during a diving maneuver the total required diving time, including the necessary decompression pauses. This is a function of the depths passed through in diving as well as time of entering into a new diving depth stage. The gauge is also capable of displaying warning signals whenever the maximum ascending time is exceeded, whenever a decompression pause is reached, and whenever the device becomes inoperative by exceeding the allowable times or depth.
Electronic pressure gauges of the type described above permit a diver to be continually informed, in complete safety, concerning all essential parameters during a diving maneuver. These previously known devices, working electronically with a computer or microprocessor, are capable of being carried along on the forearm of the diver during diving. Relatively recently such devices have enjoyed great acceptance.
With such electronic pressure gauges, however, there is always the disadvantage of not having available an appropriate demonstration simulator for testing the device or instructing new users regarding its operation. The present invention is directed to this problem.